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What you really should do is fire the teacher. Or, do a cost analysis for devices that are being used now such as smart phones and then SaaS providers via cloud services for your apps and data storage.

Seriously? MS Office? LOL.

Our scars have the power to remind us that our past was real. -- Hannibal Lecter.
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. -- John Wooden

Hubs, routers, switches, wiring, UPS, standby generator (if possible), installation......all are part of the overall cost. The actual kit doesn't really matter so long as it does the job adequately and is not grossly over tech. In my experience most projects get the basic architecture , hardware and software solutions pretty much right.............it is with the peripheral and support costs that they frequently fail.

Staff training?..............hardware and applications won't work if the staff don't know how.............

Or, do a cost analysis for devices that are being used now such as smart phones and then SaaS providers via cloud services for your apps and data storage.

Follow this advice and you'll be like those old mainframe guys who scoffed at people playing with those "PC toys". Meanwhile, their jobs were quickly cut away while they buried their heads in the belief that only mainframes were used for real work.

Our scars have the power to remind us that our past was real. -- Hannibal Lecter.
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. -- John Wooden

Give me an IBM 3090 any day of the week! The damn PC things were so expensive that only senior executives had them, but no real idea of what to do? Hence the "toys" taunt. Not that the hardware was capable of doing very much anyway.

PCs only came into the frame with the 386 processor and Compaq

Back then, IBM ruled the roost, and considered themselves to be a mainframe manufacturing outfit..........for them to push PC technology would be like Gates & Balmer pushing Linux

Compaq broke the ice with their server + desktop offerings. Around 1995 Compaq were the largest seller of computers by volume, and second only to IBM by revenue.

Hey! this isn't crap I have read in books or heard at college.............I was there!!!!

We are talking A+ Certification here...........I don't hold much by certification as it goes.....these days World+dog seems to have them, so I suppose you do, to seem competitive? Problem as I see it is that it is a bit like a UK driver's test (automobiles).............the instructor doesn't teach you how to drive...just to pass the test. So, you now have a driver's licence.........does that make you a good driver????????????

CN22.......In this case you have clear instructions that this is a PC/Server solution, so just go do it..there's a good chap!

As for the particular case study:

1. A low revenue outfit with 20 employees.
2. Currently has two computers and wants to buy 20?..........that means they are wanting to computerise an existing manual system.
3. Wants to move office.

Well, this is my "real life" take on it (and I last computerised a paper system 6 weeks ago!).

1. No self-respecting "cloud computing" provider would want to deal with anything so small and volatile.........it is way below the current threshold.
2. You are going to have to teach 20 people to use a computer, as well as the computerized applications. Want to make that some sort of smart phone? (which is probably going to cost more than a simple PC?) Not as easy as a PC........I know that I am reading between the lines, but these employees are probably of an older generation, and not technologically advantaged?

3. You do not change location and systems at the same time. Move the business; let it settle, then computerise.

Intelligent phones?..........for a static office? and they are easily stolen and damaged????????? I don't think so.............

I guess my take is from commercial reality, rather than the cesspit of government funding?